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Southern Utah Navajo Reservation, UT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: To combat food insecurity on the Navajo Reservation, Adopt-A-Native-Elder provided food assistance and firewood vouchers to hundreds of Navajo elders. The cash assistance helped older adults access healthy, culturally appropriate food, as well as fuel for heating and cooking. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navajo Nation recorded the highest per-capita rates of infection and fatalities in the U.S. To help keep older adults safe, the organization also delivered medical supply boxes, which included personal protective equipment, such as face masks.
Myrtle Beach, SC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: Using public art, the City of Myrtle Beach set out to spread the word about safe walking and biking, as well as COVID-19 public health protocols. To do this, the City hosted a competition for local artists of all ages, inviting them to submit designs with a safety theme. They then selected 10 winning designs and added text with safety messages to them. With the state Department of Transportation's blessing, the designs became colorful, vinyl wraps for traffic utility boxes at intersections around town. Organizers say the project demonstrated the value of public art, with residents and business owners looking for ways to replicate the results in other neighborhoods.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: Organizers wanted to ensure the Red Cloud Indian School's weekly farmers market was welcoming to elders. The Pine Ridge Reservation is a food desert, but the market offers residents access to fresh produce, as well as ingredients for traditional foods, teas and medicines. To attract older adults to the market, they launched Elder Hours, which feature traditional cooking demonstrations and other educational offerings. They also added wayfinding signage to help elders navigate to parking spaces and seating near vendors, which market organizers specifically set aside for older adults. To help people transport their purchases, Red Cloud purchased branded tote bags, which they distribute to elders who visit the market. Project organizers hope the outreach efforts help decrease longstanding health disparities among tribal members.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Honokaa, HI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: This project will update a kitchen used for community meals by replacing appliances, upgrading electrical circuitry and repairing a leaky roof. The improved facility will support the organization's food distribution efforts and create a space for intergenerational cooking classes.
Kailua, HI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Bikeability
Description: People's Advocacy for Trails Hawaii installed three bikeshare stations in Kailua-Kona, which doubled ridership. Additionally, they offered a monthly adult bike safety skills class to older adults, a rapidly growing demographic of cyclists. Not owning a bike was no excuse -- PATH provided bikeshare bikes for anyone interested in the safety classes. The organization also worked with county partners to offer free bikeshare membership for up to 100 constituents of a local community health center.
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